Is Solid Modeling on your Horizon?

Northampton Community College has offered a variety of courses that include solid modeling for many years now, but it is only recently that this form of CAD had become more than a secondary application.

An increasing number of engineers and designers are making the switch from 2D software to 3D which captures product designs via electronic 3D solid models rather than 2D drawings. Solids give engineers more design flexibility, offer realistic images of products and allow the easy integration of downstream tasks, such as analysis.

Further, solid modeling supports a decades-long push by the CAD/CAM industry to give manufacturing customers "art-to-part" capabilities, bringing designs from concept to the tooling stage in a completely digital world. By implementing a purely digital process, manufacturers can foster more effective communication between departments (not to mention customers and suppliers), make better products and enjoy greater profits because of a speedier time to market.

Solid modeling offers an array of benefits, including:

• Interactive 3D design

• Accurate and improved visualization

• Detail manipulation

• Diagnostic tools

• Model reuse

• Much faster production of prototypes or even, their complete elimination

• Design integrity

While solid modeling provides many advantages, it hasn't caught on nearly fast enough, say many observers. There should be a stampede from 2D to 3D, not a migration.

Possible reasons for the gradual spread of solid modeling are its cost and the perception that it is complicated to use. Fortunately, cost is becoming less of a factor, with affordable options such as Autodesk's Inventor, SolidWorks, Solid Edge, Think 3, Alibre and a new version of Pro/ENGINEER from PTC.

The other major drawback, its perceived complexity, still remains a factor and this lack of "user-friendliness" is 3D's biggest constraint, says Robert Kross, Autodesk's vice-president of manufacturing. Learning to work with solid models and solid modeling itself are indeed lengthy processes, even though downstream activities can be automated to a much greater degree. In addition, solid modelers may get more design flexibility, but they are constrained by CAD software functionality. This means they are limited by the software's capabilities. Moreover, users may have a hard time utilizing concept models exported from non-CAD design programs.

Another caveat to using solid modeling software is that images of models can give casual observers the mistaken impression that a product is farther along the development process than it actually is. And while the software's computer representations are photorealistic enough to fool the uninitiated, they aren't always sufficiently advanced to resolve all product issues; however, recent advancements in the technology have been astounding.

Exactly how many engineers have converted to solid modeling is not known and estimates differ. While SolidWorks claims that about one-third of design engineers rely on 3D solid modeling for mechanical and electromechanical design, Solid Edge VP Bruce Boes cites a Gartner Group study, saying that about 15% of engineers will be depending on solids by 2004. The estimate is further complicated by an extensive mixed environment (2D and 3D) in a large segment of industry today.

Whatever the actual percentage may be, one thing is certain, solid models are here to stay. In fact, 3D solids are already usurping 2D's role as the prevalent standard for manufacturing, says Kross of Autodesk. Today's 3D models are useful to manufacturing because they precisely define values that can't necessarily be derived from 2D models. They hold non-geometric information such as tolerances, making drawings unnecessary in some cases.

Engineers who are reluctant to drop 2D should ask themselves what their objective really is. Is it to make a drawing or a product? Since producing a product is obviously the main intent, and 3D is much better than 2D in doing this, the choice to upgrade is straightforward.

Also on solid modeling's side is the success that users have enjoyed. From industrial to consumer products, there has been a trend toward more artful product designs with a growing number of functional benefits, such as smaller sizes, enhanced ergonomics, improved fluid flow and less stress. This is because many engineers have been able to bolster the visual appeal and function of products through their use of midrange to high-end CAD systems with sophisticated shape description capabilities, which of course include solid modeling.

The transition to solid modeling is just a matter of time and Northampton Community College is poised to provide the training and platform for students to enter and/ or upgrade to this exciting field.

Sources:
-ThomasRegister.com, June 2003.

-Solid Footing for CAD, Paul E. Teague, Design News, April 7, 2003